The French perception of the countries in the Dalmatian coastal region and border regions of the 18th century by means of francophone press from Brussels

Abstract

The French perception of the countries in the Dalmatian coastal region was created through different sources. In the 18^th century, the francophone press from Brussels, which was the capital of the Austrian Netherlands at the time, served as one of those sources. Namely, there are some facts in the articles published in Journal de Bruxelles, in the period of 1779-1787 (right on the eve of the Brabant revolution, which set Belgium free of the imperial control) that provide firm evidence of the way this perception was made. The reports on the Balkan countries, especially those on the adventures of certain Zanovic, illustrate, in basic terms, the way the French perceived the Balkan countries on the eve of the French Revolution.